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Tag Archives: anime

Where’d all this frickin’ snow come from all of the sudden? I, I… oh, yeah…it IS winter in Chicago. Never mind.

Mean Girl On The Bus

So, sometimes I see this teen-aged (?) girl on the bus when I go to work in the morning. Sometimes I see her with a young man. Over the last maybe one year, I’d see her with a guy for a few months, then someone new for several months. Recently, I saw her with a different boy. She’s young so it’s not like I think it’s a big deal for her to date different people. The most recent time they sat close enough to me in the back that I could hear snippets of their conversation ( I wasn’t ear hustling, I swear!). It seemed like maybe they were breaking up. She was the loudest and saying stuff like, “You must not have did it right,” “I didn’t tell you ‘cuz you would’ve been accusing me again,” and “You don’t want it, I don’t want it either.” What got to me was not her words, but her tone. She was very mean and argumentative even when she talking about getting a state ID. Then I thought about how she was with her other boyfriends, she spoke to them the exact same way. I know it sounds terrible, but I thought geez, does she want to be with some guy who’ll react negatively and yell at her or knock her on her ass? Then I thought, no wonder the other boys are gone, I’d leave too. Who wants to be with someone who argues with them all of the time? On the other hand, I’m living alone right now so fuck me for being judgmental.

Hey, a picture of women's finger nail polish

Anime In The Mail

Yeah, I got some anime in the mail. The final volumes of Ghost in The Shell:2nd Gig. I really really enjoyed it. It was a pretty decent conclusion to a reasonably tight story about politics and revolution. Actually, it’s about a lot more than that. It’s about the web, cybernetic advancements, identity, individualism vs community, and the needs of minority/immigrant community vs the needs of the dominant culture’s stability…and it’s also about mullets. I’m not sure if I’ll do a You Tube video review for it or not, but I liked it. If I ever get a chance to write some sort of action/superhero/intrigue/sci-fi story, I would totally try to do something like this.

Got Ergo Proxy volume 4. Very engaging. I’ll probably wait until next month before I get the rest of the volumes though.

I also got the first two volumes of Gunslinger Girl. It’s very different than what I expected. The premise is, there’s an organization in Italy called the Social Welfare Agency. It’s basically a front for a government institution that trains assassins. They use children for their recruits because the conditioning and cybernetic enhancements just seem to work better on kids than on adults. I guess I initially thought that the show would be more either light-hearted or tongue in cheek, but for the most part, the concept is played pretty straight. The tone is pretty somber. It’s kinda like Le Femme Nikta with school girls. I’ve only watched the first DVD so far. It’s not bad, just different than what I thought it would be.

McDonald’s Is Making Me Fat

So, I was at McDonald’s last night. I noticed that the woman who took my order had alternating colors of finger nail polish. Black then red then black. I dunno…I thought it was kinda cute.

So Spike Lee and Tyler Perry are beefing. Tyler saying Spike can go to hell because of something Spike said implicating Tyler regarding “coonery and bufoonery” in the media. http://concreteloop.com/2011/04/round-the-way-tyler-perry-tells-spike-lee-to-go-straight-to-hell-steve-harveys-intern-steals-10k-from-himI was going to get all deep and political then I thought about it…isn’t Tyler responding to something Spike said in 2009 when he was promoting Miracle at St Anna’s. And isn’t Tyler promoting his latest film now? At first you think this is a debate about race, media images, and politics, then you wonder how much this is about artists hawking their wares. Thing is, the issues they brought up ARE worth discussing. The images of race, gender, and religion that appear in the media do affect the way some people view others. It’s totally worth discussing how certain stereotypes are not only accepted, but are also commercial in today’s culture. On the other hand it’s dismaying to see two popular black directors sniping at each other about who’s good for black people. And it’s a little disheartening to see other black people thinking they need to take sides. Personally, I think Spike has made some good films ( and some not so great ones). I think Tyler is serving an audience that is not always catered to ( I need a few more slo-mo gun fights in my flicks tho). We don’t have to choose between one black voice or the other in Hollywood, there’s room for both…and many more.

Random El Sighting: Ok, so I’m on th el and saw a French family. It was two guys and three children. The kids were goofing off and one of them actually said, “Oo-la-la”. I am not joking. Anyway, I thought they were either tourists or visiting someone in town and I was like, “What a nice French family visiting our first class international city.” I sat down next to a young black man who I assumed was from the west side. THEN he started speaking into his I-Phone in what sounded like it could have been French as well. Welcome to Chicago, mon ami.

Also, I’m always amused when the green-line el passes over the Chicago River and children are like, “Oh, look at the water!” It just makes me laugh.

X-Men Anime: I saw the first couple of episodes on You Tube and so far it’s not a bad cartoon. However, I am disappointed by how physically weak Storm is depicted. Back in the day Storm was always portrayed as one of the most powerful X-men characters. Heck, I remember back when Storm had NO POWERS and still defeated Cyclops in a duel to determine who had the right to lead the team. The Storm on this show uses her powers and faints every five minutes. Goddess…

Earth’s Mightiest Heroes: This is another show I’ve been catching on You Tube. I like it a lot more than I thought I would. I have to give credit to head writer Christopher Yost. The show displays are real knowledge and reverence for Marvel comics history as well as an appreciation of modern continuity. There’s a good mix of old and new stories and characters, a nice blend of interesting personality types and the tales are exciting and dramatic. This exactly what I want from a superhero team show. I hope the live action Avengers movie does a similarly good job.

The New York Five #3: Not earth shattering, but interesting. The title continues the trials and tribulations of young female college students. The comic almost comes across as a love letter to hip New York. If I had a complaint, I’d say that it comes across maybe a little too glamorized? Sure, all the characters have problems and serious issues they have to deal with, but everyone is pretty and hip and living a lifestyle that a lot of young people dream of living. No one’s overweight. Even though the characters aren’t wealthy, class issues aren’t a major part of the story. With a bit of tweaking I could almost imagine this as a series on the CW (that’s not an insult).

Fear Itself #1: I know, I know…I complain all day long about event comics and here I am buying an event comic. My only reason/justification is that I really like Stuart Immonen’s art. The art here is gorgeous, it’s lovely, and it was worth buying for it’s own sake. The story isn’t terrible. but let’s see how that goes.